Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: A division bench of the Gauhati High Court comprising Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury expects that the Assam government will take all protective measures in stopping rat-hole mining in the entire state and also take necessary coercive action against rat-hole mining operators. The bench said this after hearing the suo motu PIL (1/2025) and PILs filed by other parties as well on the tragic incident that occurred in a coal mine at Umrangso in the Dima Hasao district on January 6, 2025.
The bench also said that the petitioners would be at liberty to bring to the notice of this court any known/reported incidence of rat-hole mining in the state.
Earlier, the High Court was informed that the Government of Assam had disbursed ex-gratia payment of Rs. 10 lakh to each of the families of the deceased and also took steps to close down such illegal mining operations and also to formulate a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) aimed at enforcing a complete ban on the rat-hole mining activities in the state.
Advocate General D. Saikia informed the court that a Commission of Inquiry, headed by Justice Anima Hazarika, a former judge of the Gauhati High Court, had been constituted on January 24, 2025. The Commission of Inquiry was to submit its report within a period of three months from the date of issuance of the notification of its constitution. But it appears that the Commission of Inquiry is still continuing with further extensions. It is expected that the Commission of Inquiry shall submit its report within a short time, the advocate general said.
The Advocate General has also pointed out that the State of Assam had taken this incident on a grave note and another Commission of Inquiry, headed by a former Judge of this Court, namely, Justice B.P. Katakey, had been constituted. Pursuant to the recommendations of the aforenoted Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice Katakey, a Monitoring Committee has been constituted to monitor the actions taken by the police against any person involved in raising, storing and transporting coal without any valid authority.
This Court has also been informed about the district-wise status of the different coal-rich districts, in which action has been taken towards stopping rat-hole mining.
The concern of the learned counsel for the petitioners is that even though the terms of reference of the one-person commission of inquiry take care of all aspects of the matter, they are limited to the Dima Hasao area only, whereas there have been reported incidents of rat-hole mining in other parts of the State of Assam and the neighbouring Northeastern states.
In that context, learned counsel for the petitioners demands that an SOP, as promised by the State, should be formulated and made public as expeditiously as possible.
The advocate general has submitted that the process of formulating the SOP is under way, and he would ensure that the whole process is expedited and the SOP is published and its contents are circulated/disseminated in public. This assurance from the advocate general led the bench to adjourn the hearing.
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